Buck.”
I was tired of giving Howard a hard time so I said, “Thank you.”
“I also have copies of the suspect’s fingerprints, and three color snapshots of him taken in the U.S. about twelve years ago, plus his last driver’s license and U.S. passport photo.”
“Good.” If you look like your passport photo, you’re already dead.
Anyway, I thought we’d get all this in Aden, but it was good to have it now in case we ran into the suspect on the road.
Mr. Fensterman continued, “He’s clean-shaven in these photos, but we know from various sources that he’s grown a beard.”
That’s what Rahim said at Ghumdan.
Howard further informed us, “He’s also wanted by a number of foreign governments for attacks against their citizens.”
“Right. The Saudis want him for killing some of their border guards.”
“Correct. And the Belgians for a possible kidnapping and suspected murder.”
I’d just heard about this from Colonel Kent, but I hadn’t mentioned it to Kate, who asked, “What was that about?”
Howard replied, “Back last August, nine Belgian tourists disappeared at the ruins near Marib.”
Kate said, “I remember reading something about that in the Times.”
She may have read it in the Post, but she always cites the Times. I do the opposite.
Howard continued, “It looked like a tribal kidnapping, but there was no ransom demand, and there was blood found at the ruins.” He added, “The Yemeni tour guide and bus driver were found… dead.” He added, “Throats slit.”
Didn’t sound good for those tourists. I asked, “Why does the Belgian government think it was The Panther?”
Howard replied, “The Belgians arrested an Al Qaeda suspect in Brussels on an unrelated charge, and apparently this information came out during the interrogation.”
Right. That’s how we get half our information; bad guys know lots of bad things.
Howard said to us, “So, aside from the Yemenis, other governments, including the Saudis, will want to be notified if we make an arrest, and they may ask for extradition. So we need to make a strong case for our Cole-related charge.”
“Right.” The Saudis could be a problem if we did snatch The Panther and had to beat feet with him across the Saudi border. Therefore, we were probably not taking The Panther to Saudi Arabia, and certainly not handing him over to the Yemenis. It occurred to me that there was more going on here than I knew. I’m shocked.
Bottom line here: A bullet in the brain settles all extradition requests, jurisdictional disputes, and silly lawsuits.
Howard also informed us, “I’m going to stay on with you in Aden.”
Shit. But I said, “Great.” I felt obligated, however, to advise him, “We have intel that the Sheraton in Aden might be the subject of an Al Qaeda attack.”
“Really?”
“With luck, this will happen before we get there and the cocktail lounge won’t be damaged.”
Kate suggested to Howard, “You might want to return to Sana’a today.”
Howard thought about that—Death Highway back to Sana’a this afternoon, or Ground Zero in Aden tonight? Personally, I’d head inside for a muffin. But Howard said, “No, I’ll stay in Aden until a convoy heads north again.” He added, “I want to be close to this.”
“Your call.”
Zamo came over and asked us to join him at his Land Cruiser for a quick course on the M4 carbine.
He handed each of us a weapon and said, “This is the Model A1, a shorter and lighter version of the standard military M-16 assault rifle, which I’m sure you’re all familiar with.”
I hefted the carbine in my hands. It felt good. It felt bad.
Zamo, warming to his favorite subject, said, “It has a telescoping stock, and this model fires fully automatic.” He continued, “It takes the standard 5.56mm cartridge, and has a thirty-round magazine. The cyclic rate of fire is seven hundred to nine hundred and fifty rounds a minute.”
Kate asked, “Effective range?”
“You’ll get good accuracy at three hundred yards.” He further explained, “The short barrel reduces the effective range, but we have day and night scopes that I’ll give you.”
I inquired, “Do you have your sniper rifle with you?”
“Does the Pope leave home without his cross?” Zamo continued, “This gun is built for close-in defense and medium-range offensive use. So if we get into a situation where the bad guys are firing from a distance with AK-47s, then you have to compensate by laying down full automatic suppressing fire to keep their heads down.” He assured us, “What the M4 lacks in long-range capability, it more than makes up for in its high cyclic rate of fire.”
Howard asked a